Alun Pickford

Introduction

Alun Pickford is a former teacher and house tutor at Dauntsey’s School in Wiltshire who was banned from teaching for life in December 2024 after being convicted of the rape of a pupil in the 1990s. The victim, Person A, made a historic report to police in February 2020; Pickford denied the charge but was convicted at St Albans Crown Court in May 2023 and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment with an indefinite place on the sex offender register. A Teaching Regulation Agency panel found the conviction of a relevant offence proved, and decision maker Marc Cavey prohibited him from teaching indefinitely with no entitlement ever to apply for restoration.

Background Information

Pickford obtained his PGCE in August 1991 and worked at Dauntsey’s School between April 1991 and August 1998, holding responsibility as a house tutor within a boarding house. In the summer of 1993, Person A was a pupil at the school for whom Pickford carried pastoral responsibility. He issued her an open invitation to stay at his flat if she was staying late at school, and on one occasion offered her his bed. Person A made a historic report to the police on 27 February 2020. Pickford was charged and pleaded not guilty; on 17 May 2023 he was convicted at St Albans Crown Court of rape of a woman 16 years of age or over, contrary to section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, and was sentenced on 21 July 2023. His regulatory case was decided without a hearing on agreed facts signed on his behalf while he served his sentence.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. The rape conviction was entered by a jury at St Albans Crown Court after a contested trial and is a matter of court record, certified to the panel. Pickford maintained his denial of the offence throughout the regulatory process.

According to the sentencing remarks before the panel, Person A had undressed preparing to sleep on the understanding that Pickford would sleep on the sofa in the living room of his flat, which was on the school grounds. About 15 to 20 minutes after she got into bed, Pickford went into the bedroom, undressed, put on a condom, positioned himself on top of her and had sex with her. The sentencing judge found his actions constituted a “flagrant abuse of trust”, while also observing that Pickford had “matured” and moved away from his earlier attitudes toward women. The judge described Person A as vulnerable and Pickford as having enjoyed considerable responsibility and trust as both teacher and house tutor, stating that his conviction was a breach of that trust. The panel accepted the certificate of conviction as conclusive proof and considered the offence one of violence and sexual activity, extremely serious and completely incompatible with being a teacher.

Public Reaction and Consequences

No press coverage attaches to the case; the published decision is the public record. The criminal courts imposed seven years’ imprisonment and indefinite registration; the regulator then ended any prospect of returning to teaching. The panel noted that Pickford, writing from prison, had “no intention of fighting against any decisions barring [him] from the teaching profession by the T.R.A” and hoped his letter “brings the matter with the T.R.A to an end” — but found there was no evidence of insight or remorse given his maintained denial, and was “still highly concerned” that it could not state there would be no risk of repetition. The panel recommended a prohibition order with no review period, and Cavey agreed that allowing a review period was not sufficient to maintain public confidence where a teacher had abused his position to commit rape against a pupil.

Current Status

Pickford is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. Because the decision maker also removed his entitlement to apply for restoration, the ban has no review gate: he “shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach”. The determination is dated 28 November 2024, with the order dated 2 December 2024, effective from service. He retains a right of appeal to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days of notice; the published record shows none was filed. His imprisonment and indefinite sex offender registration continue independently of the teaching ban.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Pickford’s case sits in the tier the regulator treats as beyond second chances: a conviction for raping a pupil, even one tried three decades after the attack, produces the no-review, no-restoration outcome. The panel expressly weighed the judge’s observation that he had matured since the 1990s and still concluded that his maintained denial left no evidence of insight — and no basis to rule out repetition. The historic-report route is also instructive: the victim came forward in 2020, twenty-seven years after the assault, and the conviction followed within three years. For boarding schools the case underlines that pastoral invitations — a bed in a staff flat on school grounds — are exactly the situations of trust the system exists to police.

Sources

• Dept for Education, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Alun Pickford” — source